An Open Letter to the Writers and Producers of "Last Man Standing"

I do not usually watch your show, but tonight I found myself in front of my television, watching the trash that you are calling comedy, and I was reminded of why I don't watch.

Tonight's episode dealt with one of the family's neighbors, who lost his job because his firm was downsizing. This could have been a good chance to teach about helping one's neighbors when they're down, but what you did was turn it into an anti-socialism, anti-Obama fest, and that is your right as we do still have Freedom of Speech and the Press. However, I would like to warn you that what it came off as was petty, and it made me your characters appear to be uncaring, which is not something you want your characters to be. The rant at the end of the episode was not only un-funny, but absolutely untrue if you know anything about our economy. (Hint: We no longer have a meritocracy as the only ones that get ahead anymore are the ones that already had advantages to begin with--it is all about who you know and not what you can do.) I'm not saying that you should leave your politics out of it, but you might want to be a bit more subtle about it and not take potshots at the president. (If you noticed, your studio audience booed when the one character said she had to raise her prices because "we're living in Obama's America." I don't think your goal is to make your audience dislike you.)

The other issue in tonight's episode concerned the middle daughter, who while working at a diner is told that she should pretend not to be dating someone in order to get better tips. Way to set the feminist movement back several decades. The message being sent is detrimental to girls all over the country because it is telling them that the only thing that will make them money is their body rather than their talents or their intelligence. Would we ever tell a guy that he needs to flirt in order to make money? Of course not because that is beneath them, but somehow it is not beneath girls and women. This is a ridiculous notion, but for some reason it was front and center on your show.

I used to watch Home Improvement back in the 90's and the sexism wasn't as overt as it is now and its presence was offset by Patricia Richardson's Jill. Unfortunately, none of the ancillary characters on this show seem to balance this out. In tonight's episode alone, we had the scenes with the middle daughter at work and another scene in which Hector Elizondo called someone "Chesty-Mona," which he followed up by saying the only reason he called her that was not to confuse her with "Black Mona." I never thought that I would loathe a character played by Elizondo, but you have proven me wrong.

Comments

Well I know your one of the "Osama " blind Dumbacrats that voted for him twice because you only do what your told !! Pull a single lever to vote "Straight Party Line Ticket", because he needed 4 more years to REALLY screw More things UP!!!

Thank you for coming to show your ignorance on my blog. You have assumed quite a lot about me without knowing a thing about me. First of all, I am not a "Dumbcrat" as you so ineloquently put it. I honestly believe that the best mayor NYC has ever had was Rudy Giuliani, who was in fact a Republican, and had he won the Republican Primary in 2008, would have gotten my vote. I had also, briefly, considered voting for John McCain, but after folding to party pressure and picking Sara Palin for his VP, there was no way I could have voted for him.

Now, we shall discuss you. Based on this comment, I would say you are the one who votes based on the party line. First, there is your uninspired Bin Ladin comparison. You obviously watch a lot of Fox News. Second, the name you have chosen to go by is also very telling. You chose "same" as your handle, which implies your reliance on conformity. Thinking for yourself is not something that you're very familiar with, which is why your comment is chock full of Tea Party-isms. Last, I imagine your education probably stopped somewhere in high school, judging from your poorly constructed sentences and appallingly bad grammar.

I am sure you are going to be extremely offended by my psychoanalysis, but that's what happens when you come to someone else's blog and attempt to insult them. Have a nice night!

If you're really a writer for Last Man Standing, which I doubt you are because you're probably busy taking pot shots at the president and maybe even Bernie Sanders to be reading criticism I wrote several years ago, congrats on the syndication. Not since Fox News procured a license to lie to the American public and call it news has bigotry had such a good day.

The blog is doing really well for me as it keeps me in books and allows me to share my love of them with anyone who wants to read them. That's the difference between you and me. You spread bigotry and misogynistic morals and I spread love. Love between the characters of the books I read. Love of books in general (even the ones I don't like). Last, I spread the love of literacy. If even one person picks up a book based on my reviews, then I am happy and I have done my job.

Most readers remember their first, the first book of their particular genre that they read, whether they enjoyed the book or not. I have two firsts--the first romance I ever read was a Harlequin Intrigue written by Amanda Stevens. If you've read my blog before you probably already know this. The first historical romance I read was Mesmerized by Candace Camp, which was also the first book in her Mad Morelands series.

I was a senior in high school when this series began and I remember seeing the paperback version of Mesmerized on the shelf at the Target on Queens Blvd (yes, I spent a lot of time on Queens Blvd as a teenager), and was pulled in by the gorgeous cover. Apparently, that book has had several covers over the last 15 years, but this is the one I remember:

If you follow me on social media, you'll have seen my posts about this book over the last week. For the most part, they weren't very positive -- until about 20% into the book, I hated the hero. If I could have set him on fire, I probably would have. It was only Ms. Morgan's prose and the fact that I had been looking forward to this book for 6 months that kept me reading. For once, I am glad I was so wrong about a character.

From the PublisherOne man. One woman. Two dogs. Meet Molly—New York's most famous advice columnist, she considers herself an expert at relationships…as long as they're other people's. Still bruised from her last breakup, Molly is in no rush to find happily-ever-after—the only love of her life is her dalmatian, Valentine. Meet Daniel—A cynical divorce …

It seems like I've been reading Karen Rose novels my entire life. I remember the day I came across Count to Ten in the Duane Reade on Queens Blvd. I'd finished the paperback I brought with me to school that day while sitting in the Dining Hall eating lunch and needed something for the long bus ride home. I almost didn't buy it because it was $9.99 and I hadn't gotten my financial aid money yet, but the cover copy called to me. Not even the 500+ page count could scare me away.

I recently learned that Edge of Darkness is Ms. Rose's 20th book and in a strange way, I feel like a proud mama watching her child cross the stage to get their diploma. I'm just a big ball of happy nostalgia, thinking back to all of the other books I've read by her and hopeful about the ones to come, so befor…

The day after Labor Day I woke up to an email from my contacts at St. Martin’s Press, inviting me to review six of their upcoming Christmas books, all of which have release dates in early October. For most people, this would probably be a problem — who wants to think about Christmas before Halloween — but for me, I’ve always had a soft spot for the man in the red suit. Even after I stopped believing in the Christ-Myth, I still loved that one holiday. To me, Christmas represents everything that Thanksgiving is supposed to be, but with better music and no obligatory turkey. Some of my favorite books have a Christmas theme and so I jumped at the chance to review those six books (well, five of them because the sixth has to do with cowboys and if there is one sub-genre I just cannot do is cowboys). I read the first two, With This Christmas Ring by Manda Collins and Deck the Halls by Donna Alward, fairly quickly, especially since they’re both novellas. Both are being released in a little o…

Disclaimer: I wrote this review as a part of a Blog Tour, but have since pulled out of it for obvious reasons. I am not editing the content of the review, so any mentions of the Blog Tour remain.

**** I want to start this review by saying that this is not the type of book I usually read and had I known this, I would not have signed up for this Blog Tour. While it does not appear as if this is being marketed as a "Christian Romance" that is exactly what this is. As a New York-born, California-living Atheist with degrees from two liberal universities, I am not exactly the target demographic for this book (or for this author, for that matter). Despite feeling duped by the marketing, I made the effort to read the entire thing. Honestly, had I stopped at any point before reaching the end,…